Clinton faces a hard sell for education plan

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, February 15, 1995

1995-02-15 04:00:00 PDT CALIFORNIA -- As President Clinton was warning GOP budget cutters to keep away from education Tuesday in San Francisco, a Democratic congressional aide was distributing a statement denouncing Clinton's proposal to expand direct student loans as foolish reliance on "an untested new bureaucracy."

It was a sign that Republicans aren't Clinton's only problem when it comes to selling his education policies on Capitol Hill. Even among his own party, the president faces a hard sell before his middle-class-oriented education plan, which includes tax breaks for families with college students, becomes reality.

Clinton, who made his comments in San Francisco during a brief stopover Tuesday, also took his cause to Southern California, promoting his education policies before 2,300 people at San Bernardino Valley College.

In his speech to a friendly audience of the American Council on Education at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero in San Francisco, Clinton accused Republicans of targeting the direct student loan programs and education grants to pay for tax cuts promised in the GOP "Contract With America."

"We won the Cold War because we stayed strong," he said in vowing to oppose the cuts, "and we will win the fight for our own future and a place in the 21st century if we stay strong with education."

"Replacing a proven, private-public partnership loan system with an untested new bureaucracy could lead to disaster from students, universities and taxpayers," Gordon said.

"This goes against the whole ethic of government," said Corinne Russell, spokeswoman for Gordon. "Everyone is talking about reducing government. They want to create (a system) in an area that has a terrible track record."

Eshoo frowns on tax deduction&lt;

Broadening educational opportunities is at the heart of Clinton's "middle-class bill of rights," which would allow families to take as much as $10,000 per child in tax deductions to use for college or in vocational training.

But another Democrat, Rep. Anna Eshoo of Atherton, has introduced legislation that competes with the Clinton tax deduction package - and an aide said it was unclear whether she would support Clinton.

Eshoo's bill would allow parents to make tax-deferred contributions to savings accounts earmarked for their children's college or other higher education.

Under the plan, parents could deposit as much as $5,000 a year, tax-deferred for their child's education. As many as three children could be covered for up to 18 years for a total of $270,000 in tax-deferred savings.

An aide to Eshoo, Lewis Roth, said the Clinton plan was dogged by one criticism in particular.

"There is the view that if the government is more or less going to be paying for some people to send their kids to college, that will only spur the inflationary spiral; whereas, if parents are paying it with their own dollars, that tends to hold down costs," Roth said.

Invitation to raise fees&lt;

State Sen. Tom Hayden, D-Santa Monica, echoed that objection, calling the Clinton plan "an invitation for colleges and universities to raise their fees."

"So, if you make it possible for people to spend more money on higher education, the price will go up when what is needed is cost containment," he said.

But participants at the two-day conference of the American Council on Education said the debate was not only about middle-class tax cuts and direct loan programs. Rather, they said, many of the issues surrounding the Clinton education plan revolve around resources and who gets them.

Clinton "was trying to inspire us not to just accept the attacks," said Franklyn Jenifer, chairman of the American Council on Education. Jenifer said he was particularly concerned about the threats to need-based financial aid.

Clinton has proposed raising Pell Grants, which are based on financial need, to a maximum of $2,600 from the current $2,340. But some conservatives on Capitol Hill are discussing whether to curtail need-based loans in favor of those based on academic merit.&lt;

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